UA Parent Group Premieres Dyslexia Doc

When last we checked in with UA-KID (Upper Arlington Kids Identified with Dyslexia), the parent organization was crowd funding a documentary. That film, Our Dyslexic Children, is scheduled for a May 21 digital premiere.

The documentary traces the steps taken by the Upper Arlington parent group to bring about systemic change in the way the UA school system addressed and remediated dyslexia among its student population.

“The film is the roadmap that this parent group took to achieve their success,” says director Aaron Blevins, who came onboard with the project about four years ago. According to Blevins, the parent group wanted to tell their story of success, but more importantly, wanted to outline the steps other groups could take to affect the same kind of change.

“We know that every story is going to be different,” says Blevins. “Every parent, every parent group is facing their own unique challenges within their own schools system. This is what worked for this parent group. It’s been our hope that many of these steps can be universal, and that many parents can see themselves in the shoes of these parents and see how can they apply this in their own situation.”

Part of the reason UA-KID decided to document their success was to meet the needs of others reaching out to them. The group’s success has led to requests from parent groups, parents and school districts across the country, each seeking information about how to enact similar change for their own children.

“Over the last few years, we have received so many emails,” Blevins says. They’ve received requests for information from all over the U.S. and from as far away as New Zealand. Blevins sees the film as a tool these parents and parent groups can use to generate change for their students.

“It’s definitely a tool we see a lot of parent groups using,” he says. “People who care about kids and about access to reading can use this. So we want to get the word out there, get the story out there, and let it kind of take on a life of its own.”